Beaumont moves home health, hospice care to for-profit Ohio firm

Dive Brief:

Royal Oak, Michigan-based Beaumont Health has announced a joint venture with Alternative Solutions Health Network to expand access to home health and hospice services in Michigan.

Under the arrangement, Beaumont will shift operations of its seven-county home health and hospice agency to Kettering, Ohio-based ASHN. Partnering with ASHN will allow Beaumont to quickly meet growing demand for these services, the companies said.

The new entity, Beaumont Home Health and Hospice, launched Tuesday.

Dive Insight:

With the aging of the population and move to value-based care, home health and hospice are areas many health systems are looking at as they seek to diversify services and provide a full spectrum of patient care.

In a recent survey, healthcare services sector executives ranked home health and hospice second only to health IT as the hottest ticket for growth in 2019. That finding echoes prior reports and forecasts on the impact of an aging population. On-demand healthcare services was among the top-funded digital health categories in the third quarter of 2018, with 41 deals valued at $ 1.3 billion, according to Rock Health.

And in a recent Ernst & Young survey, nearly two-thirds of doctors and more than half of consumers said digital technologies will allow care teams to help patients manage their chronic diseases at home.

“Partnering with a specialized provider that has home health and hospice expertise will improve our ability to serve current and future patients,” Paul LaCasse, Beaumont’s executive vice president of post-acute care and diversified business operations, said in a statement. “This partnership will allow us to deliver compassionate care at a reduced cost.”

Beaumont is Michigan’s largest health system with 3,429 beds across eight hospitals and 187 outpatient sites. The nonprofit system reported net revenue of $ 4.5 billion in 2017. Under the agreement, Beaumont will maintain control of home infusion, medical equipment and personal assistant service employees.

ASHN focuses exclusively on joint venture partnerships with health systems. The for-profit company currently has about 20 affiliations, including health systems in Florida, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. In addition to Beaumont Health, partnerships include Akron-based Summa Health and Falls Church, Virginia-based Inova Health System.